My first build. Low tide. Made a mistake. Is this redeemable?

[boysenpai]

So this is my first build. I heard it was not recommended for beginners, but I've soldered my guitar electronics in the past and also, I just really wish to have Shallow Water for 5+ years and making my own was the only way I could afford it.

It went well until I started to solder chips. It came as a kit but there were no instructions as to how to solder particular components so I googled a lot with each new tier of components. Found a little bag with two chips, found their placing on the pcb, soldered them in. Cut off the residual pin tips. Then I opened next back and I noticed there were these slots and I couldn't pair them with anything. Then I realised these were slots for the chips that I already soldered straight onto the pcb and trimmed their pins.

Will the chips work when soldered straight into the pcb? Or, will the chips slide into the slot and work even with the tips of their pins trimmed? Or should I look for replacement?

 

[boysenpai]

here is a good tutorial on the desoldering method I mentioned earlier.
I'd advise getting some scrap electronics to practice on. It works quite well, especially if you don't have a quality desoldering pump.
I've never cared for the handheld pumps myself. Preferring the heated ones like PACE makes.
I bought one of these on a whim, and it works pretty well. Takes a few minutes to heat up. I believe they are on Amazon as well.

That looks great and the price is reasonable! Thank you. The tutorial is nice but I bent the pins and so they wouldn't just slide out. That's where I probably damaged the holes a bit. I really messed up it makes me chuckle. Oh boy.

 

[Erik S]

Can I please ask couple of questions. What does IC stand for? And next, I think I don't understand how the low-temp assist in removal of pins attached with regular solder. Do you mean that the low-temp blends with regular and the whole mixture will remain liquid longer?

IC = Integrated Circuit.
I've never used the low temp solder method, but I think you've got the right idea.

 

[boysenpai]

Congrats! Sadly, you may have lifted a pad. Try to clean it up with isopropyl. If it's not shiny under there, you'll likely need a short jumper as outlined.
View attachment 55902

And the short jumper would make it work and possibly stand the test of time? I don't know how to word it, but is such solution reliable?
Also let's name the holes A and B. You said I can solve the lifted pad by making a short jumper from B to A, but I noticed that another pad was lifted on the other side of A, to which I should lead the short jumper to. Will that work? And shouldn't I also make short jump from the lifted A to another? I know this is very messy but if I did not manage to be clear, please ask me to explain it further.

 

[Mcknib]

As @jwin615 says solder your IC socket in, then solder one side of your jumper to pin 3 of the socket on the underside of the pcb and the other side of the jumper to the capacitor side that doesn't connect to ground (continuity check the capacitor solder joints with ground so you solder your jumper to the correct side)

All your actually doing is bypassing the trace you can't use by directly connecting the components with the wire exactly what the trace would do

To make it easier for yourself put a small blob of solder on each end of your jumper and socket pin 3 then just place it on the capacitor solder joint and melt it together the same with the other end to socket pin 3 obviously don't put your IC in the socket whilst doing it

 

[boysenpai]

As @jwin615 says solder your IC socket in, then solder one side of your jumper to pin 3 of the socket on the underside of the pcb and the other side of the jumper to the capacitor side that doesn't connect to ground (continuity check the capacitor solder joints with ground so you solder your jumper to the correct side)

All your actually doing is bypassing the trace you can't use by directly connecting the components with the wire exactly what the trace would do

To make it easier for yourself put a small blob of solder on each end of your jumper and socket pin 3 then just place it on the capacitor solder joint and melt it together the same with the other end to socket pin 3 obviously don't put your IC in the socket whilst doing it

I'm sorry but I was not able to make it out. I know it's complicated. Could you please use the letters according to pictures I sent earlier. Let's say the front side is regular A and B, underside is AU and BU. Thank you for you patience.

 

[Laundryroom David]

I'm sorry but I was not able to make it out. I know it's complicated. Could you please use the letters according to pictures I sent earlier. Let's say the front side is regular A and B, underside is AU and BU. Thank you for you patience.

You can also google datasheets for the ICs so you can see what each pin is for

 

[zgrav]

I think your goal right now should be to see if you can get your PCB working at all. You stand a good chance of doing that if you go slow and ask for help along the way. If you get it working it will probably serve you well but might or might not stand the test of time. But you will be better off putting in the time to troubleshoot and fix this one instead of trying to start fresh and build the project on another board. After you can get it working you can figure out if you want to build another one to have a clean build instead of just a functional build.

 

[Laundryroom David]

I think your goal right now should be to see if you can get your PCB working at all. You stand a good chance of doing that if you go slow and ask for help along the way. If you get it working it will probably serve you well but might or might not stand the test of time. But you will be better off putting in the time to troubleshoot and fix this one instead of trying to start fresh and build the project on another board. After you can get it working you can figure out if you want to build another one to have a clean build instead of just a functional build.

 

[Mcknib]

No probs I've checked the low tide pcb I've got and @jwin615 has it exactly correct where you want to solder your jumper

Looking at the topside IC pins are numbered like this

Ic pin numbers .jpg

drive.google.com

If you use your IC socket it'll make it easier you should be able to solder all pins in place except pin 3

The pins will stick through the pcb don't cut them add a little solder to pin 3 and solder 1 end of the jumper to it and as said the other end to the capacitor solder joint

Here's where you want your jumper on the underside, as @zgrav says take your time

 

[boysenpai]

I think your goal right now should be to see if you can get your PCB working at all. You stand a good chance of doing that if you go slow and ask for help along the way. If you get it working it will probably serve you well but might or might not stand the test of time. But you will be better off putting in the time to troubleshoot and fix this one instead of trying to start fresh and build the project on another board. After you can get it working you can figure out if you want to build another one to have a clean build instead of just a functional build.

You are right. It is a chance to learn and understand how some of the things work. I've learned new things already thanks to you all. I'll get this going and use it as a studio device and perhaps build a new sturdy one for my guitar pedalboard later on.

 

[boysenpai]

No probs I've checked the low tide pcb I've got and @jwin615 has it exactly correct where you want to solder your jumper

Looking at the topside IC pins are numbered like this

Ic pin numbers .jpg

drive.google.com

If you use your IC socket it'll make it easier you should be able to solder all pins in place except pin 3

The pins will stick through the pcb don't cut them add a little solder to pin 3 and solder 1 end of the jumper to it and as said the other end to the capacitor solder joint

Here's where you want your jumper on the underside, as @zgrav says take your time

View attachment 55935

Visuals are such a help, thank you for that. I'm pretty sure I understand how to do it. So the pads are for grounding?

 

[boysenpai]

No probs I've checked the low tide pcb I've got and @jwin615 has it exactly correct where you want to solder your jumper

Looking at the topside IC pins are numbered like this

Ic pin numbers .jpg

drive.google.com

If you use your IC socket it'll make it easier you should be able to solder all pins in place except pin 3

The pins will stick through the pcb don't cut them add a little solder to pin 3 and solder 1 end of the jumper to it and as said the other end to the capacitor solder joint

Here's where you want your jumper on the underside, as @zgrav says take your time

View attachment 55935

Done. I don't own an electrometer so I'll just finish it and see what happens.

 

[Mcknib]

That looks good

It is a fairly complex build but as said take your time, don't rush it and hopefully it'll fire right up

I don't want to throw too much info your way but to answer your question not all the pads connect to ground what you actually do is reference the schematic to see how components connect to each other

I hadn't actually realised the schematic wasn't in the build document

Don't get bogged down looking at it but here it is in case you need it

LowTide-Schematic-PedalPCB_230907_123712.pdf

drive.google.com

The blue line is your jumper connection, as you can see it connects to pin 3 IC5.1, C36, and R63,



FYI the dashed arrowhead on C36 is a ground connection in case you don't know

You won't be able to check it connects without a meter

So get yourself a multimeter asap you can get cheap ones these days let us know your location and someone can link a meter within your budget

What I'd suggest you do is finish soldering all your components in except the potentiometers then post a pic of the solder side so we can see if there's any potentially dry solder joints or solder bridges

 

[boysenpai]

That looks good

It is a fairly complex build but as said take your time, don't rush it and hopefully it'll fire right up

I don't want to throw too much info your way but to answer your question not all the pads connect to ground what you actually do is reference the schematic to see how components connect to each other

I hadn't actually realised the schematic wasn't in the build document

Don't get bogged down looking at it but here it is in case you need it

LowTide-Schematic-PedalPCB_230907_123712.pdf

drive.google.com

This is the pad you've lifted, the blue line is your jumper connection, as you can see it connects to pin 3 IC5.1, C36, and R63, you may also need to run a jumper between C36 and R63 but ignore it for now and finish your build

View attachment 55965

FYI the dashed arrowhead on C36 is a ground connection in case you don't know

You won't be able to check it connects without a meter

So get yourself a multimeter asap you can get cheap ones these days let us know your location and someone can link a meter within your budget

What I'd suggest you do is finish soldering all your components in except the potentiometers then post a pic of the solder side so we can see if there's any potentially dry solder joints or solder bridges

Thank you, thank you and thank you. I'm close. All there is left to solder is power supply, footswitch, diode and potentiometers. Should I solder all remaining parts apart from potentiometers? Also how can I tell the + and - on a diode? One pin is significantly longer.

 

[boysenpai]

Here is a photo so far. The diode, footswitch, input/output and power supply is still to be soldered. I checked all connections and they are all separated, only thing that connects them sometimes is the flux which I assume is no problemo.

 

[boysenpai]

I have an input and output for jack. One bears the letter "L" and the other bears the letter "H". Also there are three pins. On the board there are two holes for each, In+ground and Out+ground. My question is, do the letters "L" and "H" have any significance and how can I distinguish which pins are in/out and which is ground?

 

[boysenpai]

Next, for the power supply on the pcb board there is + and - hole. There are two pins on the power supply input. One is shorter and has "X" next to it, the other is longer and has "25" next to it. Which is which?

 

[boysenpai]

The holes for diode are "A" (round) and "K" (square). Does the length of diode pins indicate which pin goes to which hole?

 

[zgrav]

FYI for the audio jacks the ground connection is the one that is on the angled corner tab. you can see it connects to the outside of the jack.

for the LED diode, the longer lead is the anode and goes to the positive power feed.

for the circuit board diodes, the band on the diode is the ground side.

 

[boysenpai]

Propably the most puzzling for me is the footswitch. I've seen DIY footswitch soldered before and it looked like a bowl of spaghetti. There's six holes on the pcb, nine pins on the FS. Tried to google some gutshots of Low Tide but they all had this neat FS that did not attach wires to the pins but to holes in the FS and the pins had each a bit of solder on them. Advice is much appreciated.